Police: Missing Capitan man is found dead

The 69-year-old Capitan man who suffers from Alzheimer's disease was found dead near a rural road on the Mescalero Apache Reservation Friday morning, a New Mexico State Police spokesman said.

State police continue its investigation of Alfred Padilla's death until the Office of the Investigator determines the manner and cause of Padilla's death, Capt. Bill Jenkins said, of the New Mexico State Police post in Alamogordo.

Jenkins said Padilla's death is undetermined at this time.

He said Padilla's body was found on a logging road between two and three miles from Chief Road around 8:30 a.m. Friday by search-and-rescue teams.

Jenkins said state police were notified by the Bureau of Indian Affairs that Padilla's vehicle was located on the Mescalero Apache Reservation and requested state police's assistance around 2:35 p.m. Thursday.

Padilla had dropped his wife, Marena Padilla, off at the Alamogordo-El Paso shuttle at the Best Western Aire Hotel, 1021 S. White Sand Blvd., around 2 p.m. on March 6. He was driving his 2008 blue Dodge Dakota pickup truck.

Jenkins said members of the White Mountain, Alamogordo, Organ Mountain and Chavez County search- and-rescue teams had conducted hasty searches of the area where Padilla's truck was found until nightfall Thursday.

Padilla had dropped his wife, Marena Padilla, off at the Alamogordo-El Paso shuttle at the Best Western Aire Hotel, 1021 S. White Sand Blvd., around 2 p.m. on March 6. He was driving his 2008 blue Dodge Dakota pickup truck.

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Jenkins said members of the White Mountain, Alamogordo, Organ Mountain and Chavez County search- and-rescue teams had conducted hasty searches of the area where Padilla's truck was found until nightfall Thursday.

He said search-and-rescue teams resumed their search for Padilla around 8 a.m. Friday.

According to Google Maps, Chief Road is about 4.3 miles from U.S. Highway 70 and 10.1 miles from Ruidoso.